Natural Lands - the magazine of Natural Lands spring-summer 2020 issue | Page 8

6
one out of four. gone.
Scientists don’t use the word
“staggering” lightly, but the numbers
warrant it: since 1970, nearly three
billion birds have disappeared from
the US and Canada. A team of scientists
from seven research institutions
released the first-ever comprehensive
assessment of net population
changes in North America last
fall. All told, the bird population is
down by 2.9 billion breeding adults
across all habitats—even among
birds considered very common
like sparrows, blackbirds, warblers,
finches, and swallows. “Habitat loss
is likely to be a driving factor in these
declines,” say the authors, “particularly
agricultural intensification
and development.” The problem of
declining habitat is exacerbated as
birds are forced to adjust their range
in response to climate change.
The Eastern Meadowlark is one bird species
facing staggering losses in numbers.
Birds are the best-studied group of
wildlife, according to Adam Smith, a
coauthor of the study and biostatistician
for Environment and Climate
Change Canada. “With this study,
we have finally managed to come up
with a way to estimate the number
of birds in North America, to get to a
point where we trust the math. And
it turns out, over less than a single
human lifetime, we’ve lost almost a
third of our birds.”
For scientists, this documented
mass decline and predicted extinctions
are resounding warning bells. “It
is reasonable to expect that whatever
trends are observed in bird populations
will be mirrored by other animals
throughout that ecosystem, including
mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and
even fish,” said Mike Coll, manager of
Natural Lands’ Hildacy Preserve and
adjunct professor at Temple University.
“The study tells us that not only
are bird populations being decimated
by human activities, land use choices,
and a changing climate, but that also
entire systems of living things no longer
have the habitat and conditions
they need to survive.”
“
Birds are an ecological litmus paper. They warn us of things out of balance,
“
sending out signals wherever there is deterioration in the ecosystem.
— Roger Tory Peterson, noted ornithologist and naturalist
Bill Moses (all)
How can you help?
shrink your lawn.
Lawns are barren wastelands for wildlife. Consider
replacing sections of lawn with a meadow, or with a bed
of native plants. Layering a variety of native species—
ground covers, shrubs, understory, and overstory—offers
diversity of food sources and shelter for birds.
avoid or reduce the use of pesticides.
One billion pounds of pesticides are applied each year in
the U.S., which can cause direct harm to birds and reduce
the number of insects available to them.
become a citizen scientist.
To understand how birds are faring, scientists need
hundreds of thousands of people to report what they’re
seeing in backyards, neighborhoods, and wild places
around the world.
Natural Lands offers birding events throughout the
year to get you started. (Visit natlands.org/events to
check out upcoming happenings.)
plant a tree.